1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an emergency reporting apparatus, and more specifically, to an emergency reporting apparatus which makes a report to a rescue facility or the like when an emergency situation occurs.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a driver gets sick in a vehicle or an accident occurs, he or she usually reports to a rescue facility such as a fire station, a police station, or the like.
In an actual emergency, however, there is not always a person nearby, or the driver becomes unable to move, loses consciousness, or the like and thus cannot use a reporting apparatus in some cases. Besides, even if the driver can report to the rescue facility, he or she sometimes cannot accurately report his or her state.
Hence, it has been suggested to provide an emergency reporting apparatus with an emergency reporting switch to automatically report the occurrence of an emergency situation.
For example, the emergency reporting apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-5626 detects occurrence of an accident, estimates location of the accident, stores information for analyzing the accident, and reports the accident.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-251292, discloses an emergency reporting apparatus that transmits a report of vehicle information such as the present position and so on, based on the operation of an airbag at the time of collision of the vehicle.
Such an emergency reporting apparatus is disposed in a vehicle, so that when an emergency occurs, a call for rescue is issued by the user actuating the emergency reporting apparatus or by an automatic operation of the apparatus.
In a conventional emergency reporting apparatus, however, it is required to input driver information and vehicle information into the apparatus in advance, which is burdensome. Therefore, the driver is required, at the time of the emergency, to report the information which has not yet been input as the driver information. The driver, however, cannot effectively use the emergency reporting apparatus in some cases such as when he or she is at a low consciousness level, when communication is difficult because of pain, and so on.
Moreover, an apparatus which makes an emergency report through the operation of an airbag or the like, will not function to issue a report in the case of sickness in which there is nothing wrong with the vehicle, and thus the driver must make the report by himself or herself in the end. Also in this case, even if the driver, suffering from an acute pain, can make an emergency report, he or she is not always able to give all information accurately.
Moreover, when transmitting information about the driver and vehicle to a rescue facility, the driver cannot verify that the transmission has actually been received.